Jedburgh Target Systems

Written by Law and Order Staff

The Jedburgh Target System uses hit-programmable,
impact-sensitive, auto-resetting steel targets. With the Jedburgh Target
System, the officer learns to shoot but also learns to fight. The issue is
realism. How realistic is it to punch holes in full-size, paper targets?
Perhaps for qualification. Definitely not for training.

How realistic is it to shoot steel reaction targets? Sure,
they are smaller than the massive paper silhouette targets and demand better
marksmanship. However, steel targets have one big drawback—they always fall
over when hit and people just don’t do that. Nothing in a gunfight is
predictable. Stopping power is an illusion.

How realistic are the handgun games of double-tapping
everything and then moving on to the next target? That is shooting, but it is
not thinking. There may be an assessment after each double tap, but that is not
fighting.

Even with excellent shooting on our part, it is not the
officer who determines when the offender will stop his/her attack. It is the
offender. Sometimes he/she goes down after a few hits. Sometimes he/she
continues the aggression after taking a full magazine of high-performance ammo.

The officer’s job is to make good hits, and to keep
delivering those good hits until the target goes down. The JTS Black teaches
the officer to keep his brain engaged while shooting. It is not just
marksmanship, but processing information while shooting.

JTS Black

The JTS Black target system is a bank of six ordinary Pepper
Poppers. The JTS Black targets are very familiar to most shooters, i.e.,
standard-size Pepper Poppers with 10-inch diameter centers. However, each of
these can be programmed to take a certain number of hits before they fall. Each
of these targets can be remotely reset. It is all done wirelessly using an
Apple iPod Touch. The wireless router communicates with the iPod Touch out to a
range of 300 feet. The mobile controller is housed in a ruggedized, waterproof
carrying case.

The controller assigns a random number, within programmable
limits, to determine how many hits are necessary to “win” the engagement. The
instructor sets the minimum and maximum number of hits needed, but neither the
instructor nor the officer knows what random number the controller has
selected. The range is from 1–10 hits, but the instructor can narrow this
range. For example, the instructor can set the hits to be any random number
between three and six hits.

The target requires an unknown number of hits to make it
fall. When the same target comes back up, it will take a different, unknown
number of hits to make it fall. The officers will never see the same shooting
scenario twice. The Jedburgh system randomly selects which of the six targets
will pop up first, and randomly selects the order the targets will appear. The
system is capable of presenting either one or two targets at a time. This
built-in uncertainty means the officer must perform an on-going assessment
during the entire exchange.

The steel targets are not actually knocked down by the
bullet. The target senses the impact and the electro-mechanical actuator lowers
the target. Since the target “falls down” in less than a second, it definitely
appears to fall just like an ordinary Pepper Popper. The actuator both raises
and lowers the target based on controller signals.

While rated for rifle calibers up to 308 Win, the JTS system
will function normally even when 22 Long Rifle ammo is used, and incredibly
will still work even when hit with Simunition® projectiles. This means the JTS
Black can be used in nearly every kind of firearms training we do today, indoor
or outdoor.